Otium

Otium

Otium was a unique and challenging opportunity, creating a ground-up restaurant on a new bridge in the heart of the economic and cultural center of Downtown Los Angeles. Chef Hollingsworth’s vision was to transport the guests from a concrete metropolis to Napa Valley via his explorations of familiar comfort dishes.

The intent of the 6900 square foot building was to design an inviting place for gathering that would exist in stark contrast of its more austere neighbors. There is a strong connectivity from the restaurant to nature through the large glass curtain walls, a green wall mural by graphic artists Sagmeister & Walsh, and texturally through the rich material palette of walnut, hickory, ipe, ochre/charcoal tile, soapstone, decomposed granite, steel, and copper. Local Artisans were employed to craft all of the furniture and bespoke decorative lighting. The centerpiece of the $8,000,000 ground-up design, is the expansive kitchen which is welcoming and open visually to the guests reinforcing the feeling of home, and comfort amid the surroundings of elegant rusticity.